The Natomas Unified School District in California, announced Wednesday it plans to terminate the Advanced Placement Government teacher who was heard boasting to a Project Veritas journalist he was using Antifa propaganda to turn his students into “revolutionaries.”
“Natomas Unified will be taking the legally required next steps to place the teacher on unpaid leave and fire the teacher,” read a statement by Superintendent Chris Evans regarding Gabriel Gipe, who had been teaching at Inderkum High School in Sacramento.
In a video released Tuesday by Project Veritas (PV), led by James O’Keefe, Gipe appeared to be bragging he is using Antifa propaganda to indoctrinate his students to embrace socialism by offering extra credit for their active participation in opposition to “right-wing rallies.”
“And I’ve had students show up for protests, community events, tabling, food distribution,” the video showed him explaining. “All sorts of things.”
This indoctrination method is consistent with proposed “action civics” curricula that ultimately teach America’s students how to community organize for leftist causes with a woke education program based on Critical Race Theory.
In the district’s statement, Evans referred to Gipe’s “educational approach” as “disturbing” and one that “undermines the public trust.”
The superintendent said the district took more time to “investigate beyond the video” in order to “learn more facts.”
Other samples of “classroom decisions that have led Natomas Unified” to come to its decision, Evans continued, include that the teacher “violated the district’s political action guidelines which are aligned with Board Policy and California Education Code.”
He also stated the following regarding Gipe’s “classroom environment”:
This morning, the walls of the classroom were cleared of all posters and signage. Not all of the material was inappropriate. However, the district believes the physical learning environment can best be rebuilt from a total fresh start. Additionally, the teacher, using his own money, purchased a series of rubber stamps. These stamps include an inappropriate image of Josef Stalin with an insensitive phrase, as well as other stamps with Fidel Castro, Kim Jung Un and others. These were purchased shortly before the pandemic and their use was likely initially limited due to Distance Learning. The district’s investigation did discover that at least during the 13 days of this school year, he was using those stamps to mark student work as complete.
Evans admitted Gipe “did encourage students to attend civic related activities for extra credit,” but also said “[i]t is not extraordinary to encourage students to attend local political meetings and learn about government.”
The superintendent acknowledged, nevertheless, Gipe encouraged students to participate in some events that “became unsafe,” and cited his “lack of involvement of parents in that kind of sharing was both unprofessional and irresponsible.”
“Some students have shared that the teacher has stated he believes students will move to the left as a result of his class,” he wrote. “That is unacceptable. Students are the ones caught in the middle of this. To those who have felt uncomfortable at any time in the past 3 years, we apologize.”
Gipe, the superintendent continued, also “violated” trust by not teaching about controversial issues in a “balanced manner,” as required by district policy.
Regarding the question of why Gipe’s apparent conduct had not been “noticed earlier,” Evans wrote that 25 previous visits by site administrators to his classroom “showed that the teacher had learning objectives posted such as “I will know the 4 ideals presented in the Declaration of Independence, and apply them to current events.”
“A number of examples showed the teacher teaching standards and addressing the curriculum,” the superintendent noted, adding the current principal is “new to the school” and consumed by pandemic-related issues.
“We have discovered that some of the materials that were on the wall [of Gipe’s classroom] were added, at the earliest, May of 2021,” he said.
The PV video appeared to show an Antifa flag and a poster of Mao Zedong, the former chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, on the wall of Gipe’s classroom.
“Whether those posters were added prior to the school year or placed on the wall for the first 13 days of this school year – we are not yet sure,” Evans stated. “However, they are gone and removed. Leaders from the site have stated they do not remember the classroom looking as it did in years prior.”
At a school board meeting following the PV video release, parents shouted at school board members for allowing Gipe to indoctrinate students:
The superintendent said in his statement the district will review in training sessions materials that are appropriate for classroom walls as well as the district’s political action guidelines for staff.
“Also, Natomas Unified has a process for students, families and staff to file complaints regarding this teacher,” he added. “They can contact our Constituent and Customer Service Office to identify these kinds of concerns where they can be addressed quickly.”
“The actions and approaches taken by one teacher do not represent the overall staff, students and school community,” the superintendent stated, observing “a number of students will be hurt by this action.”
“Even more have felt the effects of their schools’ negative publicity,” Evans concluded. “To the parents, students and other staff – NUSD is sorry that this reached this level of disruption.”
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